There is something inherently exciting about the shape of a circle. Wait, wait, sit back down. I promise I’ll make a valid point here. A circle by nature has the inherent feeling of movement, because if it’s not on a flat surface, it will roll on way or the other. And with force applied, that motion can be even greater. Thus circles and their movement translate into entertainment in everything from a simple game of marbles, to many sports, to a giant boulder chasing Indy through a cavern. Video games have been circle based as well, in titles ranging from Marble Madness to Within a Deep Forest.

Now Milan-based Playstos Entertainment recently released the WiiWare title Pallurikio, a platformer in which you guide a ball through a multitude of worlds, collecting points and special cards on your way to finding each level’s exit. With the help of your Wiimote, you help guide the ball through 50 levels, and 5 bonus levels full of obstacles, traps, and plenty of things that want to kill you.

Gameplay

Pallurikio is played by pointing the Wiimote at the screen and hitting A to select the power behind your ball’s jump. A rainbow colored Arrow indicates the direction you’ll be jumping, and its length indicates the power. Once airborne, you have the opportunity to use more more jump, but then you’re resigned to your fate and better hope you don’t land on any spikes. Once you land on solid ground, you once again get two jumps to move. If you bounce off a wall, you once again gain an additional jump, so you do have the ability to bounce yourself up walls or nail some lucky saves. If that sounds complicated, it isn’t. Your sole charge is to get the ball from Point A to Point B, trying to score as highly and collect as many special cards in each level as possible. A timer ticks down, and while you have unlimited lives, once the timer runs out you must start over.

The levels are diverse, ranging from a simple cityscape to a medieval castle to a unique space world in which some sections are defined by their lack of gravity, a nice diversion to the general formula. Each world introduces a new obstacle, be it a ray gun, spears that respond to your touch, or terrifying saw blades. The constant addition of new threats is a great touch. But I did find the general gameplay to be extremely repetitive. Each level is just a matter of using your trajectory to avoid obstacles, collect some points and find the exit. Rinse and repeat.

The difficulty of the game seemed uneven. I expected a curve as the world’s changed, but it seemed like effortless levels were mixed with the frustrating ones. Oftentimes a level could be breezed through without a death, while others were timer-draining pulse-pounders.

The game offers time trials, which are an excellent addition for those who love to see their initials with a large number next to them, and it also offers an “instant replay” for those who wonder how they just survived the past level they beat. But beyond those additions, there isn’t much depth here.

Style

Pallurikio has an entertaining cartoony look, and the story scenes are well illustrated. Some of the worlds looked more interesting than others, so not every element was consistent stylistically. In this case, the game is more about the gameplay than the style.

Story

There’s a comic book type story bookending this platformer, in which a group of kids break into an abandoned house and find the board game Pallurikio. They get sucked into the game world, and are only released after beating the game. I liked the cartoony graphics surrounding the story elements, but they really don’t play a large role in the game, as you spend most of your time wandering through the 50 levels, rather than dealing with the kids’ situation.

Everything Else

The game truly shines when you finally reach the bonus stages. Once you’ve beaten all 50 levels and unlocked the additional world. The level design and gameplay finally merge into a solid triumph. The levels’ difficulties are excrutiating, but that made me truly appreciate the title, as I really had to work to make it through the stages. Traps felt more permanent in these levels, from the abundance of ball-killing electrical clouds, to disappearing platforms, and corridors so narrow you had to be spot on in your aim. Pallurikio could have been a real triumph if this excellence in design had been applied to the entire title. The rest of the game isn’t bad, it’s just not as good as the final few levels.

Pallurikio is a fun little platform game, that makes good use of the Wii’s motion controls. It would have been even easier with a mouse, but its current form works just great. It’s a bit steep at 1,000 Wii Points, but it’s a challenge and the time trials can add a level of re-playability for those who love leaderboards.

Pallurikio is available in the Wii Shop Channel for 1,000 Wii Points.

[Playstos Entertainment provided DIYgamer with a review copy of the game for review purposes, this in no way affected the outcome of the review.]